stepping it up...

On Saturday June 4, 2011 my husband stated he was ready to start eating healthier... coming home from a vacation a day earlier (where we ate anything/everything we wanted) and feeling the effects... he was ready to lose some of that belly fat and not feel so tired all of the time.


Admittedly, this was a moment I've been waiting for ... for a very long time!

What we did next:
- As you can imagine, we bought salad greens and more vegetables and healthier snacks at our next grocery visit.
- He got on the recumbent bike in the back room (nearly every day for at least 20-30 mins).
- We bought a weight scale for the bathroom
- We took the food scale out of storage
- We cleaned up the BBQ and started grilling out every night
- He put himself on a 2,500 calorie/day diet
- He created an Excel spreadsheet (and the subsequent food/calorie database to rely on)
- We started a vegetable garden (now growing 3 variations of tomatoes, poblano and anaheim peppers, garlic, red and yellow bell peppers... to add to our already growing herb garden: thyme, oregano, dill, parsley, cilantro, chives, bunching onions and taragon).
- We decided we needed to increase our protein intake so our muscles could rebuild following exercises.


We got our "healthy" on...


But it has become so much more than that. In the past two weeks he decided that not only did he want to eat better, exercise more, lose weight and be healthier... instead he also wanted to get serious about it. So what did he do next?! He purchased all of the peraphanalia required to go through the P90X program!!!

We now have some really cool lookin' dumbbells in the living room, a pull-up bar across the dining room door jam and my craft room has turned into workout central. (How DID that happen overnight without my approval?!)


Last night we watched the intro to P90X and the first workout routine... holy S*%#!!! (pardon me!) It's an extreme program (yes, that's obviously what the "X" stands for)! They warn against people with knee / back injuries from doing the program - and for once I was grateful that I don't have any cartiledge in my right knee! (HA!!!)


So where do we go from here?!
- Since the two of us will now (FINALLY) be eating similar (and much healthier) foods, I think I will be on a similar food plan as the one he puts together for himself.
- But he (for the record, a crazy man) will do his P90X while I continue with my upper body weights and recumbent bike riding.


Report
- Losing Weight: In the past 2 weeks he has dropped nearly 10 pounds and I have dropped about 5 pounds!
- Gaining Life: Our time together has increased by a shared desire to learn about healthy shopping/eating, hanging out by the grill together, spending time at local farmers' markets and revelling in the growth occuring in our veggie garden.


A Confession and a Promise
Doing this on my own (exercising and eating relatively healthy during the day - but then eating like we normally did for dinners/weekends) was difficult. My weight yo-yo'd, along with my desire. But with my husband by my side we can do this together! We're a team ... and while we are doing different exercises on a daily basis we are encouraging each other and learning how to live this new life together! We've promised to each other that we'll support each other through these attempts and cheer each other on...


What now?
Yesterday we purchased two books that are going to take us even further... he's reading "Nutrition for Dummies" (yes, a basic foundation... but quite the necessary refresher), and me: "The Glycemic Index Diet for Dummies". This will help us put together a hybrid nutrition plan, one for each of us. We need to set some goals, create a comprehensive grocery list and find about 2 dozen meal plans/recipes to start with. In about a month we will revisit our goals, plan, etc and see what needs tweaking.


Needless to day, we're ready to BRING IT!